


Just One Question

by profound-boning (farawaystardust)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff and Angst, Fluffy Ending, Homecoming Dance, Light Angst, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Prom, Promposal, brief Anna/Ruby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-06
Updated: 2016-10-06
Packaged: 2018-08-19 19:44:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8222675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/farawaystardust/pseuds/profound-boning
Summary: Dean Winchester does not stew. Perhaps he marinates. Or… never mind. The point is, asking Cas to homecoming is a much bigger deal than Jo seems to think it is. Asking Castiel Novak to attend their senior homecoming dance as his date is, in fact, a big deal. It would change things.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Supernatural Prompt Challenge. September theme: childhood. My prompt: Homecoming
> 
> Thank you to my beta [Ashley](http://www.archiveofourown.com/users/jhoom/)! 
> 
> rated T for cursing 
> 
> QUICK NOTE ABOUT "Prom" AND "Promposal" TAGS: I added these because it's a similar thematic idea, and one that is probably more familiar to people outside of the USA (in my experience anyway) than homecoming is. There are a plethora of prom related fics and literally two tagged for homecoming, so adding these tags will hopefully draw in readers looking for the "I'm asking my crush to the dance!" type fics, just in different words. :) So to clarify, at this fictional Lawrence High there is a formal dance following an important American football game and that is the setting of this fic. (Homecoming dances vary by school, my dance was not at all formal, for example) Hopefully all of that makes sense. Enjoy!

“Jo, you’re like a sister to me, but if you keep bothering me about this, I’m going to kill you.”

“Seriously Dean, what are you waiting for?” Jo Harvelle asks him (again) as they walk down the hall. “We both know you’re not going over the loudspeakers at a game or creating a ridiculous diversion during class or, God forbid, kidnapping the poor guy. Just pull Cas aside after school today and—”

Dean quickly puts a hand over Jo’s mouth and looks worriedly over his shoulder. He only removes his hand after giving her a pointed glare. She just rolls her eyes.

“Whatever. Stew in your man pain.” And without another word, Jo walks away.

Dean Winchester does not stew. Perhaps he marinates. Or… never mind. The point is, asking Cas to homecoming is a much bigger deal than Jo seems to think it is. Asking Castiel Novak to attend their senior homecoming dance as his date is, in fact, a _big deal._ It would change things.

It would change the fact that Dean and Cas have been good friends for several years. That they study together and sit together at lunch and have many of the same friends. (Except that guy Nick who wants to be called Lucifer. He’s definitely a weirdo, but Cas is friendly with him.)

For Dean to express _interest_ in Cas would disrupt things. And Dean is not good with that much change.

So he’s been hemming and hawing over this for weeks. Okay, maybe longer. Maybe since their junior homecoming when Benny asked Andrea and it was this big romantic production and it’s pretty much been the talk of the student body since.

But Dean’s not like that. He’s not a dozens-of-roses-and-a-flash-mob type. He’d rather give Cas a little something personal and just… ask him.

The following day finds Dean and Jo walking together again from their first-period Biology class to second, History for Jo and English for Dean.

“Deeeeeeean,” Jo starts.

“Jooooooo,” he replies. She shoves his shoulder in response and Dean sighs. “We both know it’s stupid, Jo. We’re all gonna be together at the game and the dance anyway. I don’t need to rock the boat.”

“But Dean this is something you’ve wanted for a long time, and it would make you so happy. And it’s senior year! Why _not_ go for it?” She argues.

“Yeah, Jo, I guess, but that doesn’t really change anything. Giving him a sunflower or a bumblebee plush and asking him to be my date can’t really be construed any other way, so if he’s not interested, it’ll make things awkward,” Dean explains.

Jo looks like Christmas came early this year. “So you _have_ thought about this! You _do_ have a plan to ask him!”

“Shut up shut up!” Dean looks around again, paranoid, but the halls are busy and no one is paying any particular attention to them. “Yeah I—I have thought about it.” He blushes hard remembering the bright sunflowers waiting in a vase at home and the little stuffed bee hiding in his backpack.

“That’s awesome! Let’s talk more after school, okay? I wanna hear all about it.” Jo squeezes his shoulder before darting away to class and Dean heaves a sigh. Just because he’s thought about how he’d ask the most beautiful guy in the school to homecoming doesn’t mean he’s actually going to _do it_.

Upon entering the classroom, he settles into the desk behind Cas. Just like every day, they share a smile.

“Hello, Dean.”

There’s no time to reply before the bell rings and class begins.

Some minutes later, Dean is roused from his daydreaming (which may or may not have involved the dream-worthy blue eyes currently hidden from his view behind a head of tousled dark hair) by Anna Milton sliding her desk sideways to connect with Cas’s. Oh. Guess it’s group work time.

The noise created by sliding over to Ash’s desk doesn’t quite cover up Anna’s hushed: “So did you ask him yet?”

“Anna!” Cas whisper-shouts back at her, shoulders tensing. Dean works very hard to keep his eyes down on the book in front of him and his breathing normal. He has to strain to hear their quiet conversation.

“Oh come off it, Cas, there’s not much time left. You said you already had the—” She must be making a hand gesture, but Dean can’t see it. “So when are you gonna ask?

“I—I dunno, Anna. Maybe it’ll ruin things if I ask him. What if he doesn’t have a date because he doesn’t want to go?” Cas sounds anxious. Dean feels lightheaded.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’ve had a crush on him forever. It’s your senior homecoming! Of course he wants to go. And why wouldn’t he want to be with someone as marvelous as you?”

At this point, Dean is wondering whether it’d be better to break several bones and escape to a hospital or to continue listening to Anna coach Cas into asking his dream guy to the homecoming dance. The breaking bones would certainly hurt less.

Luckily Ash is content to talk mostly to himself for the rest of the period, leaving Dean to wallow in his heartbreak. He even skips lunch to hide in an empty classroom and regret every single life choice that brought him here.

Who is it that Cas is crushing on? Is it Raphael, the star basketball player? Balthazar, the cute British foreign exchange student? Is he a hot older guy Cas works with at the movie theater? He’d even guess Anna herself if he wasn’t sure she and Ruby from their Math class have a thing. And if Cas and Anna hadn’t been using male pronouns.

The point is, Cas could have his pick of literally anyone in the school, in the whole damn town, and it sounds like he’s going to ask them— _him_ , Dean reminds himself bitterly—soon.

For some reason, it hurts even more to know that Cas is going to ask a boy, spend his night on another boy’s arm in a coordinated suit or tux, be wrapped around another boy as they twirl on the dance floor. That it’s just _Dean_ who he doesn’t look at and think of scruffy kisses and calloused fingers intertwined with his own.

At home that evening, Dean can’t bring himself to confide in his family more than a passing, “can’t always get what ya want, Sammy” and vague reassurances to his mother that he’ll get over it.

But he knows there’s no getting over Castiel.

The next day and a half pass in kind of a blur for Dean. It only dulled the pain a little to bury those yellow flowers at the bottom of his trashcan. He straight up ignores Jo’s pestering about homecoming or steers clear of her entirely, in addition to avoiding finding out whether or not Cas was successful. There’s no way he wouldn’t be; you’d have to be extremely happily taken or elderly and senile not to accept an invitation from arguably the hottest person at Lawrence High. (Maybe Dean is biased. Probably not though.)

So when Cas corners him after school on Friday, Dean attempts to build a strong wall around his heart like it’s not already shattered into little pieces. As much as he wants to be a supportive friend, he’s pretty sure it will kill him to hear anything from Cas about his no doubt handsome date.

“I’m glad I caught you.” Cas sounds out of breath. “I’ve been meaning to ask you for something. About something.”

Oh God, Dean thinks, please don’t ask for help with the big romantic question for some other guy.

“Sure man,” he says. He feels proud that his voice isn’t wavering at all. “What’s up?”

Cas takes a deep breath and holds up a small bouquet from where it had been hidden behind his back. “Dean Winchester, would you do me the honor of being my date to our senior homecoming dance?”

They’re forget-me-nots. Like the ones in his mother’s garden, like the ones he doodles on every worksheet and paints in art class. Like the same shade of blue as Cas’s eyes when he’s happy. They’ve been meticulously potted in a pretty clay pot decorated with what look like constellations.

“You… Me? What?”

Cas’s smile wavers a tiny bit. “I’m asking you to homecoming,” he repeats more quietly. “If you’re uncomfortable, we can just forget—”

 _"No,"_ Dean cuts him off quickly. “Hell no. I’m not—. I just—. You really wanna go with _me,_ Cas?”

Those gorgeous blue eyes flash with something like anger. “Of course I do. You are the kindest and most intelligent person I know. Not to mention you're beautiful.”

Dean blushes furiously to the tips of his ears. “I suppose I could tell you now that I, uh, overheard you and Anna discussing the guy you wanted to ask. The guy you have a crush on.”

Now it’s Cas’s turn to blush. “Oh, I—um. Yes, well—” He stammers, shifting his feet a bit.

Dean reaches out one finger to gently stroke the petals of the flowers Cas is still holding in his beautiful hands. “I’ve had a crush on you since you moved to Lawrence,” he admits quietly. “Sometimes it seems like it’s so obvious, so massive, it could destroy everything in its path. It makes me feel both wildly brave and utterly powerless. You make me feel things I’ve never felt, but…” He bites his lip and meets Cas’s eyes again. “I think maybe the best is yet to come.”

Cas gapes at him for several seconds. At that moment Dean remembers he never got rid of the small bee (and he makes a mental note to buy new sunflowers). He withdraws it from his backpack and presents it to Cas, who begins shaking his head.

Before Dean can start to feel rejected, Cas lets out a watery laugh and says, “This is the sappiest fucking thing that’s ever happened, you know that? Here.” He gestures for them to exchange gifts, and then he reaches for Dean’s free hand with his own.

“I’m strangely okay with it,” Dean replies seriously as he lifts their joined hands and presses a kiss to the back of Cas’s. “Yes, Castiel. I will go to homecoming with you. Can I take you on a date tonight though? Something that doesn’t require a tuxedo?”

“Pick me up at seven,” Cas answers, looking as radiant as the moon and all the stars.

Though Dean is later certain that nothing can (or will) compare to his boyfriend (and later husband) all dressed up.

**Author's Note:**

> [on tumblr](http://profound-boning.tumblr.com/post/151404976689/)


End file.
